program-TAN
nihilism is pretty much atheist only with one thought attached, and that that religion is a way to help the mind.
That is not what a nihilist believes.
Yes, I nihilist believes there is no God, I'll give you that.
But a nihilist also believes that there is no point to anything.
The funny thing is, that is what we are talking about in class tomorrow Nihilism. This is the second time I've taken the class, and Nihilism is a depressing thing. I almost wish I didn't have to go tomorrow.
At any rate, this is a direct quote from my textbook.
(The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog: Fourth Edition - James W. Sire, InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, Illinois: 2004. Pg. 87) - the book in case anyone wants to know or is interested.
"Nihilism is more a feeling than a philosophy. Strictly speaking, nihilism is not a philosophy at all. It is a denial of philosophy, a denial of the possibility of knowledge, a denial that anything is valuable. If it proceeds to the absolute denial of everything, it even denies the reality of existence itself. In other words, nihilism is the negation of everything - knowledge, ethics, beauty, reality. In nihilism no statement has validity; nothing has meaning. Everything is gratuitous, de trop, that is, just there."
- That is the first paragraph within my worldview textbook.
That is what Nihilism is - Denial of everything. A Denial of reality.
Essentially Nihilism denies the existance of eveything. It even denies the existence of itself.
I have a hard time understanding this. How can you believe that reality does not exist? That what you believe and what you think does not even exist. Nothing is important, nothing matters because nothing exists.
I don't understand how someone could think that way and truly believe what they are saying. I know I exist. I know what I believe exists; wheather it's true or false, it exists. My thoughts exist. "I think therefore I am." I know I exist and I know my thoughts exist because I experience and think them. The people who are true ultimate nihilists say that the thoughts that they think and the emotions they feel do not exist. Everything is meaningless and reality is a lie.
I don't understand nihilism at all.
I don't think I ever will.